This is a great place to get free books for your classroom. My mentor, a retired OUSD teacher, told…read moreme about this place when she first started working with me. Since I have enough books in my classroom, I visit once a year and gather new or like-new ones for my students as Christmas presents. This non-profit gets donations from some of the following places: 1. Barnes and Noble book drive 2. Half Price Books 3. Regular people 4. Book drives at schools While they don't have a limit on how much you can take at once, they do have a limit for the following: 1. Board books- no more than 10 2. Hot picks- no more than 10 3. Spanish books- no more than 10 They open once a week on Tuesday and once a month on Saturday. I highly recommend this place to new teachers.

Hands down, THE best place to get free books for our young readers in pre-school and up to high…read moreschool. They offer all types of genres, non-fictional, fictional, educational, popular, classics, hard cover, paperback, and picture books! The staff are super friendly and will be more than happy to help you find something interesting and/or have great suggestions for your young learners.

I rented this place to shoot a classroom scene for my short film and it worked out perfect…read more I recommend this establishment.

Chapter 510's workspaces are as suitable as any in all of Oakland to hold literary group meetings…read moreand literary events. Their staff is experienced, knowledgeable and incredibly helpful

Back in the 60's, it was Chinese School, which my parents made my sisters and brothers attend after…read moreAmerican School (Lincoln). As Victor mentioned in his review, "it was called chinese community center...in the late 1960's or phonetically in Cantonese...juong wah min fa yuen...correct me on this, Victor...LOL. What do I remember about this school? There was the banana tree in the small courtyard in front..."yes, we have no bananas" on that tree. I can't forget that mean principal, Chow Hop Ming or something like that...the young men were the ones getting in trouble...getting hit with the metal yardstick on both hands, the fingers snappings on both ears...it wasn't abuse back then...they called it discipline. While the class was in session, no words in English could be spoken or we got penalized 1 cent for each non-Chinese word. It was all good because by the end of the semester, the class had enough money for a party with chow mein and fried chicken. I did not mind the spelling test and writing sentences in Chinese, but writing the essays and calligraphy were not my strong points. I liked the geography (dei lei), but history (lik tse) was so-so. Then as I reached the higher grade, I had to learn another dialect - mandarin. I did okay with that, but now I can only count from 1 to 10 and say thank you in mandarin. There were the Chinese debates and calligraphy competitions...neither one of them was my forte. I'm glad I wasn't chosen to compete and/or participate in those activities. Another thing I remember were some of the guys were pretty good at playing basketball - the Look brothers, Robert and I don't remember his brother's name, Kwock Yee, Richter Kong...just to name a few. These guys eventually played high school basketball - the Look brothers at Oakland High, Kwock at Oakland Tech and Richter at Castro Valley High. Lastly, I enjoyed decorating the bulletin board with crepe streamers, which displayed our artwork and essays. That was for open house and I know all the classes had to do this in their respective classes. Aah...memories of my childhood and the yesteryears. I may not be as fluent in Cantonese as I was, but I can still write my name in Chinese...LOL.

When we enrolled my daughter in summer school, she was barely 5 years old. She was so attached to…read moreus, I was hesitant to let her go but the caring staff embraced her immediately. She was the youngest and smallest of her class, quiet, and shy. I hung back long after the bell rung for school to begin making sure she was OK and worried she would be run over during recess because of her size. When I brought up my concern, staff took steps to look out for her and even paired her up with some older Jie Jie as mentors. They made her feel so comfortable and happy. I was delighted when she came home learning so much Chinese. Soon, she was shooing me away. Fast forward, I enrolled her in the afterschool program. Yes, through COVID-19 pandemic. As most of the teachers are older, I was worried about their ability to pivot to online learning but they did so very quickly using GoogleClassroom. The teacher to student ratio is excellent and education has not been compromised by remote learning at all. If anything, the quality has increased as the class sizes are now smaller. My only room for improvement for this school would be their ability to expand extracurricular studies such as martial arts, calligraphy painting, Chinese chess, etc. I remember growing up going to Chinese school (not this one though) and really enjoyed the elective classes the most. When YuMing returns to teaching in-person, we will end the afterschool program but will look forward to attending summer school.

Amazing place they have great selection shoes, furniture and clothes , very reasonable pricesread more

Walked in greeted right away from the guard. 10/10. We…read morebegan shopping. So many great items. Clothes, purses, shoes small selection of furniture. Certain says if the week they have 50% off certain items. To bad people steal so no dressing room. Make sure u dress light. So clothes will fit over your clothes u like to try on. Huge book selection. Cashier explained every thing I needed explained! 10:10. We will be back. Price medium. Good quality clothes.

On the dubious occasion of my 4,900th Yelp review, I thought I'd share the memorable experience I…read morehad as a volunteer. Community service really shouldn't be perceived as a punishment for allowing a proctor to correct your daughter's SAT or posing your daughters as recruits for the USC crew team when they've never touched a paddle. Ah, the entitled Hollywood mindset. Through the efforts of the local office of my employer, I had the privilege of spending the day here. I listened to the program director talking about the runaways and abused kids that end up here to start their lives over again, heard the harrowing accounts from the kids themselves, and helped with the tasks they organized for us - building a living wall of plants, sorting through clothing contributions in various states of wearability, and my particular specialty, filling little plastic containers with shampoo. It was a good day, and I didn't need to bribe anybody to come here. RELATED - Exploring Oakland? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2ObVcpQ

When I moved out they did not let me grab my things instead they put my things in bags and told me…read moreto come pick them up when I got there i did not get all my things back. They did not give me my laptop and other valuables. Coincidently all my brand name clothes was not given to me either when asked where the rest of my things were I was told it was not in the room. I was not compensated in any way they didn't even try to find my things I lived there for almost 2 years. I gave them a list of my things all they did was give me two bags and basically told this is all you get. They are horrible!!

If you've ever wished you could help the underserved economically underprivileged and homeless…read morepopulations of our cities by taking your perfectly good old clothes and putting them directly into the hands of someone in need without anyone reselling them for profit (goodwill) or pushing a religious agenda with a history of homophobia (salvation army), then this is it. I was just there and there was a line 30 deep of people who NEED assistance, and it was being given to them, free of charge, by these good folks. I will definitely be back with more donations and would encourage anyone to bring what they have to give here as well.

On August 1st, 2024, my uncle and aunt went to a food distribution site to collect food. Arriving…read moreearly, they placed a cart in line to hold their spot while they went elsewhere to get more food. When they returned, they found a woman had cut in line and was repeatedly pushing their cart aside. They tried to ignore her and resumed their place in line. However, the woman, for some unknown reason, seemed to think my uncle was in her way and shoved him with her hands, causing him to hit his head on a pot and fall to the ground, bleeding. He was unconscious by the time the ambulance arrived. We hope the food distribution site can identify this woman and help us seek justice. Please be cautious if you encounter her! The site itself is convenient, and the volunteers are wonderful, but some customers can be a problem.

One year on Xmas eve my husband arrived to pick up his paycheck too late - office closed. ( he…read moreoften ignored my pleas to leave early for important matters.) We sat in stunned silence . Christmas Eve, friends coming over, little money , what to do? He said," I feel like the grinch who stole Xmas." Gradually we pulled ourselves together, drove to Dress Best for Less . I bought us red sweaters to wear ( his was an expensive English brand), toys and trinkets for our friends. We ended up having a wonderful Christmas! When I told this story to a woman there, she said she'd had similar experiences. Flying home for Xmas is expensive . She has little left for gifts. At DBFL she has bought wonderful things that have delighted her family in a far away ( and very cold) country. As I told her my story I laughed showing the DVD id just bought at DBFL for my twin grandnieces: the Grinch who stole Xmas. So come on down ! Any time of the year. Great finds, and it's so much fun being there - especially before the holidays .

Stopped by to pass some time and was pleased to find a pair of Mother jeans for $50 and a Diane Von…read moreFurstenberg wrap dress for $60. Like any thrift shop, it takes a moment to find a bargain, but the mix of high and low is worth the hunt. They have jewelry and shoes - I keep looking and haven't found a match for my aesthetic or size just yet.

As my friends on Yelp might know, I'm a psychiatrist who works in the East Oakland ghetto. Only my…read moreFacebook friends know what's going on right now. We have to sell our house, I have parents in Germany, and I found a great job in Germany working for the US military as a civilian. But they require a whole slew of medical tests and certifications. So I needed the basic CPR stuff again. Being a physician working in psychiatry in an outpatient clinic, I haven't been certified in over 5 years. But I've taken maybe 4 or 5 courses in the past. "Annie, Annie, are you all right?" And the courses were all pretty dry, boring and to the point. Get in, get out! Here's your card. Well, to get certified again I wanted a quick way out. I found an online course. Paid my money, downloaded the material, and actually studied the material and took the test without cheating. I felt great. But, not practical tests. And my future employer said it wasn't approved by the AHA. Duh! My bad. So then I signed up for a "real" class online. Location was San Leandro. Got three confirmation/reminders. Showed up and no one was there. (See my previous yelp review.) Finally I signed up online with the Red Cross. Had to wait several weeks but got this great Alameda location. Now to the bottom line: this was the best course I've ever taken for CPR/BCLS. The intructor Aaron was awesome. He really cared about helping people. He made it interesting. He challenged us with questions and decisions, but he never judged us. He is an excellent teacher providing positive feedback and encouragement. I can highly recommend this course for anyone, amateur or health care provider. I thoroughly enjoyed this course and was encouraged to review the skills I learned. A job well done, Aaron and American Red Cross.

Just went through the full day of training on Adult CPR, AED and First Aid training... yup, you are…read morelooking at an American Red Cross Certified. The location can be pretty hard to find, since it is really setting in the middle of no where (a.k.a. abandoned Naval Base since the 80s) If you are here for training, remember to bring lunch. Because, there is absolutely nutting right next to this facility and there is no way you can just "walk" to any where that's near by~ so, come prepared. The course really is NOT that boring~ It's long, but quit fulfilling. The activity is enough to keep you busy throughout the hours. The intense repetition of the CPR chest pumping in TWO minutes can really get some work out done!! From 9 to 5, from the basics of CPR procedure to the AED treatment. You really can't miss out an action~! Certification comes with the completion of the course AND two exams. Tough task~! Lot's of stress~! High Demand~! ............... lol Its not like I can go serve in the ER now, but I do have that sense of confidence as I had the opportunity to grasp better understanding, preparation and awareness in case of any accident or emergency. The instructor equipes with GREAT experience, and she was very patient, quit witt and helpful. It was a great experience~ Now I Am Certified~! I am READY to SAVE Tha World~!!!!!